STEADFAST HEART

I've dreamed many dreams that never came true.
I've seen them vanish at dawn,
But I've realized enough of my dreams,
Thank God,
To make me want to dream on.

I've prayed many prayers when no answers came,
Though I waited patient and long,
But answers have come to enough of my prayers,
To make me keep praying on.

I've trusted many a friend that failed,
And left me to weep alone,
But I've found enough of my friends
True blue, to make me keep trusting on.

I've sown many seeds that fell by the way,
For the birds to feed upon,
But I've held enough golden sheaves
In my hands,
To make me keep sowing on.

I've drained the cup of disappointment and pain
And gone many ways without song,
But I've sipped enough nectar
from the roses of life,
To make me want to live on.
(Unknown)

LEARN TO GIVE THANKS

When the door of happiness closes, another opens
but often times, we look so long at the closed door
that we don't see the one that has been opened for us.

Maybe the best kind of friend is the kind you can sit
on a porch and swing with, never say a word,
and then walk away feeling like it was
the best conversation you have ever had.

Maybe God wanted us to meet the wrong people
before meeting the right one so that when we
finally meet the right person, we will know
how to be grateful for that gift.

It only takes a minute to get a crush on someone,
an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone
but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best
of everything; they just make the most of everything
that comes along their way.

The happiest future will always be based on
a forgotten past. You can't go on well in life
until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Appreciate life and gifts that are ours for the taking.
We can especially identify with our own thankfulness.
(Unknown)

WHAT IS HOPE?

Hope is knowing that a positive outcome awaits.

Hope is not only expecting a dream to come true
but having a deep assurance that it is within your reach.

Hope is knowing that you can improve and
that you always get better with practice.

Hope is knowing that you can achieve your goals
through hard work and persistence.

Hope is looking for the future with joy
and having an expectation of better things to come.

Hope is the knowledge that life is everlasting,
and that miracles happen everyday.

Hope is something that never abandons you,
even when your life is filled with sadness
and disappointment, a spark remains inside
to help you get through the rough times.

Hope is one of God's greatest gifts to you,
because it is the magic that inspires you
to keep trying, learning, loving and living.
(Babette Bryan)


H is for heaven. We aspire to be home at last.
O is for organization. Instituted and formed
to bring us to the place we belong.
P is for peace. The longing and the aspiration to reach
a place of destiny. Peace comes naturally.
E is for evangelization. The inspiration and dream may allow us
to proclaim to the world this good news.

OPTIMIST'S CREED

Promise Yourself:

- To be strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
- To talk health, happiness and prosperity to everyone you meet today.
- To make all your friends feel there is something special in them.
- To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
- To think only the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.
- To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
- To forget the mistakes of the past and press on the greater achievement of the future.
- To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and t0 give every living creature
you meet a smile.
- To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time
to criticize others.
- To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear;
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
(Unknown)

ON CHURCH BUILDING

God builds no churches! By His plan,
That labor has been left to man.
No spires miraculously rise,
No little mission from the skies
Falls on a bleak and barren place
To be a source of strength and grace.
The humblest church demands its price
In human toil and sacrifice.

Men call the church the House of God,
Toward which the toil stained pilgrims plod
In search of strength and rest and hope,
As blindly through life's mist they grope,
And there God dwells, but it is man
Who builds that house and draws its plan;
Pays for the mortar and the stone
That none need seek for God alone.

There is no church but what proclaims
The gifts of countless generous names.
Ages before us spires were raised
'Neath which Almighty God was praised
As proof that He was then, as now.
Those sacred altars, where men bow
Their heads in prayer and sorrow lifts
Its heavy weight, are Christian gifts!

The humblest spire in mortal ken,
Where God abides, was built by men.
And if the church is still to grow,
Is still the light of hope to throw
Across the valleys of despair,
Men still must build God's house of prayer.
God sends no churches from the skies,
Out of our hearts must they arise!
(Edgar A. Guest)

A HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS

O where are kings and empires now,
Of old that went and came?
But, Lord, Thy church is praying yet,
A thousand years the same.

We mark her goodly battlements,
And her foundations strong;
We hear within the solemn voice
Of her unending song.

unshaken as eternal hills,
Immovable she stands,
A mountain that shall fill the earth,
A House not made with hands.
(A Cleveland Coxe)

THE SINCERE MAN

What gifts of speech a man may own,
What grace of manners may appear,
Have a little worth unless his heart
Be honest, forthright and sincere.

The sincere man is like a rock,
As true as time; with honest eye
He looks you squarely in the face
Nor turns aside to make reply.

Nothing is hidden; there is no sham,
No camouflage to caution care,
No ifs or buts to haunt the mind,
Or secret doubts to linger there.

A crystal candor marks his speech,
With conscience clear he goes his way,
He does the thing he thinks is right
Nor cares a whit what others say.

Give me a man that is sincere,
And though a wealth of faults attend,
I shall clasp his hand in mine
And claim him as a trusted friend.
(Alfred Grant Walton)